Bare Feet
by Nekouyoku
Summary: Prussia is kind of an idiot.


Disclaimer: I am not Hidekaz.

* * *

It was perfect. Absolutely perfect. There was a good solid foot of snow outside, and it was still coming down hard. Sub-zero temperatures, violent wind...and where was Prussia? In Austria's house, sitting on Austria's couch, eating Austria's food, using Austria's Internet to update his blog, and warming his feet by Austria's fire.  
And the best part?  
No Austria to nag him.  
Yeah, Prussia's life was currently pretty awesome.

* * *

He'd let himself in using a spare key that he'd found the last time he'd convinced Austria to let him into the house (little did Prussia know this wasn't a spare key, it was Austria's _only_ key and he had to go through all the trouble of getting an other one), and was delighted to find plenty of food and a fireplace with hot coals still in it. So all he had to do was throw a couple of logs on, sit back, and relax. And eat all of Austria's food.  
Speaking of Austria's food, the stash that Prussia had brought with him to the den seemed to be running dangerously low.  
He glanced in the direction of the kitchen.  
_Damn, I almost wish that prissy aristocrat was here to do this for me..._  
The ex-nation stared off into space for minute, trying to decide if it was worth it or not. But, he soon came to the conclusion that, yes, free-loading off of Austria was _totally_ worth it, and he hauled himself up from his spot to the couch to brave the journey into the kitchen.  
Though he almost came to regret it. He'd only been feeding the fire that _he_ was using, so it was unawesomely cold in the rest of the house now that the other fireplaces were dead. _Damn_...  
He quickened his pace, and reached the kitchen in short time. Said kitchen, however, was freezing. Prussia stopped for a moment to glare at the culprit. A giant-ass window/door thing, sucking all the heat out. Well, whatever. He'd just get food and go back to the den and who cares if it was cold as balls in the kitchen.  
"Stupid unawesome weather..." he grumbled discontentedly, heading towards the pantry. However, he stopped once again when something caught his eye. A couple of birds, huddled up together in a feeble attempt to warm up in the freezing weather. Prussia thought himself immensely clever, since the phrase "love-birds" came to mind. And, now that he was looking, he noticed a few more picking at the snow for food.  
_Tch...stupid birds. Aren't you supposed to fly south or something?_  
He snickered to himself, and continued to hunt for food. This wasn't too difficult; Austria seemed to be doing fairly well economically these days.  
Prussia found a satisfying amount of snacks, and was about to leave when he decided, on a whim, to grab a loaf of bread to feed to the birds. Not that he was feeling sorry for them or anything! The awesome Prussia doesn't feel sorry for anything! He just...wanted to annoy Austria by wasting a whole loaf!  
He deposited his loot on the counter temporarily, and went to the window/door...thing. And frowned. What the hell was this handle? Why did everything in this damn aristocrat's house have to be fucking confusing?  
Prussia growled, and fumbled with the door none too gently, before eventually getting it to slide open.  
He was immediately met with a gust of wind that would have made a less awesome person stumble back. Instead, he made to step outside...before realizing that, damn, he was only wearing socks. And wet socks were _so unawesome_. And his boots were all the way across the giant ass house, so...  
Eh, what the hell. It would only be a second or two. He slipped his socks off and stepped outside, slamming the door behind him. He didn't want his (Austria's) saltines getting damn frostbite or something.  
Prussia stepped into the snow, not paying attention to how cold it was. It wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, anyways.  
He trudged to the middle of the yard, ripped the plastic off of the loaf, and threw it onto the ground. The birds were nowhere in sight now (they probably couldn't handle his awesome) but he knew they'd be back.  
...not that he cared. He was just wasting food, is all. He didn't give a shit about those stupid birds.  
He went back to the door, and opened it to-, hey, wait.  
He tugged at the handle. The door didn't budge.  
He spent a good minute trying to get it to move, before finally giving up and coming to the conclusion that the door was jealous of his awesome and didn't want him in the house or something. _Well, whatever,_ he thought to himself, (totally not) panicked laughter escaping from his mouth. He was fuckin' Prussia. He'd find another way back in. _Way more awesome than going in the door._

* * *

Austria knew something was wrong the moment his house came into view. There were lights on. And Austria did _not_ leave the lights on when he left the house. He never did, ever. So, he came to the most likely conclusion. Prussia had broken in again. Fantastic.  
The scene in his house seemed to support his theory, too. Small puddles in front of the (thankfully intact) door that had once been snowy boot tracks, and three things that he could spot in the immediate vicinity that certainly were not supposed to be on the floor. The only thing missing was...well, Prussia. This was curious, but before Austria could investigate, he busied himself with a more pressing matter; building a fire in the living room's fireplace. It was _freezing_...  
This, however, didn't take long, and soon left Austria to figure out why Prussia hadn't burst into the room the moment the brunet had arrived and proceeded to boast and insult and be altogether annoying. Austria supposed that he could have just run out of food and left, but...he'd had plenty of food when he'd gone not too long ago, and he never knew Prussia to leave for any other reason than being forcibly removed from the premises.  
Hm. Curious.  
Well, he'd might as well check. So, he went to the kitchen...  
And that had probably been the first time he had ever willingly let Prussia into his house. The moment he'd spotted him he'd hurried over and opened the door, causing Prussia (who had been curled up, leaning against it) to fall into the kitchen.  
"T-took you l-long enough!"

* * *

It hadn't been an easy task, getting Prussia into the living room and sitting him in front of the fire. His joints seemed to have frozen in the cold, and Austria could tell that it was taking every ounce of Prussia's self-control to not cry out in pain when the brunet helped him stand up onto his flushed feet (why hadn't he been wearing shoes...?) and walk to the living room, where the ex-nation gratefully sat himself down on the floor in front of the fire, speaking not a word the whole time.  
Austria admittedly found this slightly surreal. Prussia, not speaking. Of course it was more than justified, but that didn't make it any less odd. He sat there, curled up in front of the fire, while Austria went into the kitchen and made the only type of tea he'd ever gotten Prussia to drink. When he came back and set it on the hearth, the silver-haired man had hardly even looked at him. Austria was right to assume that Prussia was more than a little ashamed about his current mishap.  
"Prussia," the brunet said, finally getting the ex-nations attention, though it was only showed by a glance and a discontented grunt of acknowledgement. "Let me see your hand."  
His request was granted after only a moment of thought.  
Austria ran his fingers over the other's, slightly startled that they were still so cold. But he coaxed them out of their curled position with little trouble, and they were warming up to their natural color, so his worry dissipated slightly. "And the other," he requested, without looking up. This hand was in a similar state.  
"Well," Austria started, but his sentence faltered when he looked up at Prussia. He'd been about to proclaim that none of Prussia's fingers were in immediate danger of having to be amputated (though, he wasn't sure Prussia would be as bothered by this as he would himself. An amputated finger or two might make him seem...tougher? Who knew what went on in that brain of his. If anything.), but something rather...odd stopped him from saying so. A single tear had run down Prussia's face, leaving a faint trail.  
The ex-nation must not have noticed it, since his cheeks were probably still numb from the cold. He stared back at Austria, slightly confused, until the brunet reached up on a whim and wiped the tear away.  
Prussia started.  
"Wha-I wasn't, you know, crying or anything! The awesome me is too awesome for that!" his voice was a little more rough than usual, which didn't seem possible until now, "I must just be allergic to these stupid logs you're burning or something! Or your girly perfume!"  
Austria shook his head slightly, trying to ignore the silver-haired man's forced laughter. Prussia had nearly been frozen out there, a response to the pain was nothing to be ashamed of. Well, keeping in mind Prussia's ego...  
"Glad to see you're feeling better," was the brunet's response to the Prussian's remarks, "Now let me see your feet."  
Prussia stared at him like he'd grown a second head.  
"Jeez, Roddy, there's a time and a place for your weird feti-"  
"_I am trying to make sure you do not have frostbite_," Austria interrupted, a bit louder and a bit quicker than needed. Prussia gave him a yeah-sure-you-are sort of look, but shifted his feet out for easier access nonetheless.  
Austria examined them in little time, not noticing the small bits of suppressed laughter from Prussia when he brushed against just the wrong spot.  
"Hm...you must have not been out there for very long."  
"What? It was _hours_!"  
"I'm sure it was," read:wasn't, "but frostbite can happen in as little as fifteen minutes, and you seem mercifully free of it."  
"Well yeah! The awesome me would never get something as lame as _frostbite_!"  
Austria sighed.

* * *

The next 15 minutes saw Austria pulling out an extra blanket and set of pillows for the couch, and making a makeshift bed for Prussia to sleep on, since he didn't want to go through the trouble of warming up one of the guest rooms. He'd convinced Prussia, with an amount of effort, to drink his tea, since it would warm him up. Austria had also added a couple of things to said tea to assure he got to sleep quicker-the brunet hadn't wanted to be up all night due to the silver-haired man's rambunctious tendencies.  
He'd then hurriedly wished Prussia a good night, and retired to his room.  
Maybe, just maybe, Prussia would behave himself, and they would wake up in the morning, eat breakfast, and the ex-nation would be on his way.

...

Probably not.

* * *

Austria stared at the ceiling.  
Then he turned and stared at the wall.  
He exhaled in frustration.  
It's not that sleepless nights were overly common for Austria. They weren't exactly uncommon, either, but generally when he couldn't sleep it was due to the mass of thoughts running through his mind. As a country, he naturally had a lot to worry about. But, more and more recently, when he tried to figure out what could possibly be worrying him...he drew a blank.  
Or, more like, he thought of Prussia, but that didn't seem relevant at all, so he disregarded it.  
However...tonight, it seemed perfectly logical to think of Prussia as the subject of his worries. The silver-haired man had never done anything but cause mischief whenever he was over, and so far his visit had been relatively mischief-free. And Austria had left him alone for...how long? It could have been any number of hours.  
Well, if that was the problem, then his insomnia could be easily cured by getting up and making sure Prussia hadn't done anything troublesome.  
Austria got up, and walked to his living room. Nothing was broken, or stained or drawn on or anything. He continued to his kitchen, which was as neat and tidy as he had left it after he had made Prussia tea. Everything suggested that Prussia had just had his tea and gone to bed.  
Huh.  
The brunet went back into the living room, and fed the fire since he was up, with every intention of going straight to bed afterwards. But, the sight of Prussia caught his eye.  
He was sound asleep on the couch, evidently stripped to his underclothes, judging by the pile of fabric laying haphazardly on the floor. And there was something about him that Austria had never realized before. Or, at least not consciously.  
Prussia was actually quite handsome. Now that his face was relaxed, and didn't sport the usual smirk or expression of disdain. Now that there weren't any ridiculous boasts or insults coming out of his mouth.  
Austria walked over, and brushed a silver lock of hair away from Prussia's face.  
Ah...  
He felt a vaguely familiar feeling. The way his heart hurt, the butterflies in his stomach...yes, he'd felt this way before. He was a little too old to not know what it was.  
But, towards _Prussia_? That was rather...unexpected. Then again, he supposed it made sense. And he knew why he'd never noticed before; all of the ex-nation's endearing qualities were hidden behind...well, any number of things. But when he was just laying there, quiet, peaceful...  
Austria glanced around, though it didn't make much sense. Of course there was no one there. Then he turned his gaze back to the man sleeping on the couch.  
"Prussia," he whispered. No response.  
He kneeled down.  
"Gilbert..." he said, right in the ex-nation's ear.  
Still no response.  
So, satisfied that he was deep asleep, Austria leaned over and pressed a quick, gentle kiss onto the other man's lips. They were softer than he'd imagined...  
He quickly got up, feeling rather ashamed and intrusive, and snuck back into his room, fighting down a blush.  
Though, he had no trouble getting to sleep after that.

* * *

He might have been up all night, however, had he stayed to see Prussia smirk triumphantly, before fading back to sleep.

* * *

Prussia awoke to the sound of piano music. He laid there for a moment to try and figure out why, before realizing that, oh, no shit, he was at Austria's house.  
He got up and went to the piano room, with the full intent of making up for all of the time he lost _not_ annoying Austria the night before. But, the doorway was as far as he got.  
He'd never actually seen Austria play the piano before. He'd heard it, while trying to scale the walls or pick a lock, but he didn't exactly had time to appreciate it then, and...he'd never _seen_. The brunet just looked...heavenly.  
N-not that Prussia thought so or anything! He just thought that...um, Austria looked very concentrated and he didn't want to spend the extra energy trying to break him out of it! He could wait and annoy him twice as much later!  
Yeah.  
Totally.  
Meanwhile, he stood and watched.  
To his disappoi-, er, relief, Austria finished not more than a minute later. The last note lingered for a moment, before the brunet chose to break the silence.  
"I don't suppose you're here to listen to me play."  
Prussia smirked. "Of course not! Who would want to listen to you play your stupid piano!"  
Austria suppressed, with difficulty, an objection.  
"I want breakfast."  
Ah, of course. Even though it was well into the afternoon (did Prussia always sleep this late?), the ex-nation wanted _breakfast_. It was a request that Austria would regularly deny, but his patience was still intact since Prussia hadn't talked much the night before, and...well, to be honest, the brunet was feeling a mite guilty for stealing a kiss while the silver-haired man was still asleep.  
"Hmph...fine."

* * *

Austria didn't know where he had heard that Prussia liked pancakes. In fact, he really wasn't aware that he knew. The brunet just made a quick batch on a whim, and was rather surprised at the silverette's reaction.  
That is, Prussia's pupils dilated, and a childish expression of joy spread over his face.  
"I think I love you, Specs!"  
He then proceeded to drench the pancakes in enough syrup to make Austria gag, and shoved them down his throat faster than the brunet had thought possible, luckily distracting him from the blush spreading over Austria's face. Well, apparently the fastest way to Prussia's heart was his stomach...  
The brunet turned away, and busied himself with making himself a cup of tea. He might as well sit with his guest while he was eating...'guest', of course, being used in the broadest way possible.  
Austria sat down across from Prussia once his tea was done, waiting for it to cool down enough that it wouldn't burn his mouth.  
Stirring, stirring...he glanced up to check on Prussia, who, oddly enough, quickly turned back to his food that he somehow hadn't finished yet.  
"Hmm..."  
Well, it probably wasn't important. And it wasn't worth the headache looking into it.  
The brunet turned back to his tea.

* * *

Little did Austria know, Prussia had a plan formulating in his head, A brilliant, awesome, master plan that was...awesome.  
And that plan was to wait until Austria to drink his tea before he broke the news.  
So, he watched the brunet take a couple of sips. Then, the moment that he took a nice, biiig drink...  
"_I know what you did last night_."  
Ahaha! Success! Austria turned bright red, and started coughing the tea out of his lungs.  
Prussia felt quite proud of himself.  
"W-what? I don't...know what you're...talking about," Austria managed to get out in between coughs. However, this was a lie that even Prussia could see through.  
"Haha, come on Specs. It's nothin' to be ashamed off. After all, to love the awesome me is only human, right?"  
He snickered, and shoved another forkfull of pancake into his mouth. Austria, having finally managed to compose himself, frowned. He knew Prussia was insensitive, but...this seemed to be taking it a little too far. Practically getting a confession of love and then laughing in the person's face about it?  
Well, it's not like Austria cared. It was just a little crush after all. He could easily just forget about it and move on.  
He stood up, and went to the sink to place his cup in it. He'd wash it later...  
Austria definitely wasn't heartbroken. Of course not.  
He silently left the room.

* * *

Prussia, utterly failing at reading the atmosphere, took his time finishing off all of the pancakes before going to look for Austria. After all, he still hadn't gotten in his daily amount of annoying, and the day was already half over! He was going to have to work quadruply as hard.  
He ran out of the kitchen, and slid a foot or so on the wood floors. Oh. Well, that didn't take long. Austria was right there.  
The ex-nation went over to where the brunet was sitting on the couch, his face buried in his hands.  
"Hey, you know, those pancakes were terrible. You can't cook worth shit."  
The obvious lie got no response.  
Prussia tugged at Mariazell.  
"How come everything in your house is so cheap, huh?"  
Still no response.  
"...h-hey, Roddy...are you okay?"  
Prussia pulled Austria's hands away from his face, meeting little resistance. Well, he hadn't been crying, thank god...or, well, not that Prussia cared. Totally.  
He didn't really look upset, either. He just stared down into space, not acknowledging Prussia at all.  
"Er...Roderich?"  
He tugged at the brunet's face, and finally got a reaction. His hand was swat away, and violet eyes looked into his own, before quickly looking away.  
"I'm sorry," Austria said, "I shouldn't have taken advantage of you while you were sleeping."  
"Come on, you're makin it sound like you raped me or something. It wasn't so bad."  
Austria just frowned.  
"Hey...look at me, Specs."  
When he failed to comply, Prussia took his face between his hands and forced him too. Violet met red, and before Prussia could think about it, he leaned forward and placed a kiss on the other's mouth.  
"There, we're even now!" he said, leaning back and smirking. But, his smirk faltered when he saw Austria's flushed face, and the thought passed through his mind:  
_H-hey...that felt pretty good..._  
They stared at each other for a moment, and Austria opened his mouth to say something-only to be interrupted by a much more forceful kiss. Hands slid into the dark hair, and Austria, stunned, found himself playing along.  
Prussia pulled away after an impossibly long time, leaving Austria to gasp for breath.  
"W-what..." the brunet started, feeling lightheaded.  
"Do you really love me, Austria?"  
He blinked. Then nodded, almost imperceptibly.  
"Well, that makes us even, then."


End file.
